Category Archive: Tourist information

I’m often asked by people heading to France whether I would recommend they stay in a hotel or an apartment. I say ‘apartment’ every time, and have been renting apartments myself in France once or twice a year for over ten years now. In an apartment, you will have more space, you can go to …

Yesterday I attended one of the breakfasts held as part of the Australian Festival of Travel Writing (thanks to my invitation which came from My Fench Life/Ma Vie Francaise), where the speaker was Olivier Magny, French writer and wine expert, and author of Stuff Parisians Like, and its French version Dessine-Moi Un Parisien, and his latest book Into Wine, which is so new it’s not yet even on Amazon, but you can see it on Olivier’s website.

I have just been to a delightful Candelas crêpe party, where I indulged in far more pancakes than I care to admit. Candlemas is such a lovely word, although seldom heard these days, and of course the French occasion, officially held today Sunday 3rd February, is known as la Chandeleur.

The Edward Hopper exhibition at the Grand Palais, Paris, has been extended: from now until the 31st January, it’s open Saturday to Thursday until 11pm each night, then from Friday 1st Feb at 9am, it’s open day and night until 11pm on February 3rd.

The left bank is well known for its connections to Hemingway, and his A Moveable Feast is rich in descriptions of his life there, and the many cafes and other addresses he used to frequent, including Le Select where he often went for coffee in the mornings.

Passing through Paris not long ago, on my way to Toulouse, I needed a bed for a night, and stayed in a miniscule but lovely studio in a three-storey house in a street which my Paris friends later told me they had never heard of! It also seemed that tourists hadn’t heard of it, although …